Grades 3-6; Ages 8-12

Chomps

Stella by the Sea Mary Sparkel interprets the dreams of other characters in the book. Have the students play dream interpreters. Pair them up and have them tell each other a dream and have their partner analyze it. They can write up the interpretation and share it with the class. What do your students desire? Have them write a story describing their heart’s desire and what would happen if they got it! Stella’s dream comes true when she rents a playhouse. Have students draw their own dream playhouse. They can design rooms, make a floor plan, and/or draw and color the front. Where would their playhouse be?

The Boy Who Would Live Forever Daniel stays 12 for over 200 years! Have the students imagine and write about life at 12 (or any age of their choosing) for 200 years. What would it be like? What things would change in 200 years? Would it be good to stay 12? What would be good and what would be bad? Many things changed in the 200 years Daniel lived. Choose something that has evolved over the last 200 years and draw its stages (vehicles over 200 years, kitchens over 200 years, etc). What might it look like in another 200 years? Draw its future incarnations. Daniel is able to change people’s minds and put ideas in their heads to suit his purposes. Is this good or bad? Have a debate about this idea. Divide the class into groups and have the students brainstorm the good and bad points of Daniel’s ability. Have those groups choose whether they support Daniel’s abilities or not and then convince the others that they are right. Daniel comes from another world in outer space. What does that world look like? What powers do the creatures that live there have? What can they do? Draw this other world and write captions describing the creatures. What magical powers would your students want? Have a discussion about having magical powers and what your students would do with those powers.

General

• Have students keep a journal for a week as if they were the main character. What would they write, and how would they feel about things that happened to them? They can write about real events and respond as the character, respond to events in the book or create made up events.
• Have a book party and have students come as a character from the book. Serve food from the time period/country of the book, dress as the character, listen to music the characters would have listened to and talk as the characters about events in the book.
• Three of these books are scary! What are some things that scare you? Discuss with a partner or write a journal entry talking about what scares you. Is it roller coasters? Thunder and lightening? Your sister’s hair dryer? Talk and write about what scares you and why it scares you.
• There are mysteries in many of these books. Rose in Catland has to figure out what is happening with all the cats and how to solve some problems. Robby in The Twilight Ghost needs to solve the ghost mystery and Grommet in Scream World has to find out who is causing trouble in Scream World. Mysteries are fun to read and fun to write. Brainstorm with a partner about possible mysteries and then write your own mystery story. It can be realistic, something that happened to you, or totally made up.
• Many of these characters don’t quite fit in. Rose in Catland doesn’t fit with her new family, Walter in Walter Wants to be a Werewolf isn’t turning into a werewolf as he should, and Grommet in Scream World no longer fits in with his old friends. It’s hard not to fit in. Have you ever felt that way? Write about what it’s like to be different and something that is different about you. You can do it in journal or cartoon (10-12 panels) format. Be sure to illustrate!
• Everyone has issues with their families sometimes. Rose in Catland has trouble with her new stepsisters and stepmother. Robby in The Twilight Ghost fights with his parents and Walter in Walter Wants to be a Werewolf gets teased and then ignored by his brother and sister. Write a story/journal entry about family problems.
• Many of these stories have characters trying to save something. Grommet in Scream World is saving an amusement park, Rose in Catland is saving cats, Walter in Walter Wants to be a Werewolf is saving his family and his family’s stuff. The kid saves the day. What is something that you think needs saving? Is it animals? Your town? Your garden? Your brother from the werewolves? Make a poster or a diorama depicting you saving something.
• There are bullies in several of these stories. Grommet in Scream World starts out as a bully and his friends are bullies (to strangers). Ma and Mardy Mingus are thieving bullies in Walter Wants to be a Werewolf. Slugger Sloan is a bully in The Twilight Ghost. Bullies can be really difficult to deal with. As a class, or in small groups, brainstorm ways to positively deal with bullies, instead of fighting. Think of what the characters in the books did, as well as your own ideas. Then write up a poster listing your ideas. Hang it up in the classroom or hallway.